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The NBA game scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 20 between the Washington Wizards and Charlotte Hornets at Spectrum Center has been postponed in accordance with the league’s Health and Safety Protocols.
Because of ongoing contact tracing within the Wizards, the team will not have the league-required eight available players to proceed with the scheduled game against the Hornets.
The Capital City Go-Go, the Washington Wizards’ NBA G League affiliate, announced today that Amber Nichols has been promoted to general manager, becoming the second female general manager in G League history. She will accompany the team’s flex-affiliate players (who will play with the Erie BayHawks) at the NBA G League single site in Orlando this season.
“The Go-Go has been a major part of our development strategy for both players and staff over the past two seasons and the plans we’ve made for this season allow us to continue down that path,” said Wizards General Manager Tommy Sheppard. “Amber’s skills, experience and personality have earned her this promotion and with her overseeing our involvement in the bubble, we have the utmost confidence that our players will thrive in a unique and unprecedented situation.”
Nichols has been with the Go-Go since the team’s inception, starting as director of basketball operations during the team’s inaugural season before being promoted to assistant general manager of operations last season. She has managed all logistics for the Go-Go over the last two seasons, as well as working closely with the Wizards front office during NBA and NBA G League drafts and scouting events.
“I’m honored that the organization has given me this responsibility and I plan to do everything possible to make sure our players continue to grow and develop within the framework of our system,” said Nichols. “We have all worked together across the organization during the pandemic to find ways to improve despite difficult circumstances and I look forward to this opportunity to continue doing so.”
Nichols has also been instrumental with player engagement activities and events through her first two years with the team, engaging the players in educational seminars, financial awareness sessions and speaker series with former NBA personalities. She spent a season as a basketball operations analyst for the NBA G League in 2017-18 where she oversaw logistics for all League events and also helped with the selection of players for the NBA G League Elite Mini Camp and NBA G League Player Invitational through research and talent evaluation. Nichols played four years of college basketball at the University of Richmond, where she received her bachelor’s degree in sociology, before continuing her education at the University of Georgia, where she received her master’s in kinesiology with a concentration in sport management and policy.
Jordan Bell, Yoeli Childs, Caleb Homesley and Marlon Taylor will be the Go-Go’s flex-affiliate players who will participate with the BayHawks in Orlando.
The NBA games scheduled for Sunday, January 17 and Monday, January 18 between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena have been postponed in accordance with the league’s Health and Safety Protocols.
Because of ongoing contact tracing within the Wizards, the team does not have the league-required eight available players to proceed with the scheduled games against the Cavaliers.
The National Basketball Association game scheduled for tomorrow between the Utah Jazz and Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena has been postponed in accordance with the league’s Health and Safety Protocols.
Because of ongoing contact tracing with the Wizards, the team does not have the league-required eight available players to proceed with tomorrow’s game against the Jazz.
Wizards center Thomas Bryant has been diagnosed with a partially torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. He suffered the injury as a result of incidental contact with two Miami players during the first quarter of the team’s game vs. the Heat on Saturday night.
The injury was revealed following examination and MRI testing by Wizards Orthopedist Dr. William Postma of MedStar Health in conjunction with Monumental Basketball Chief of Athlete Care & Performance Dr. Daniel Medina.
There is no timetable for when Bryant may return, but it’s quite likely he will be out for the remainder of the 2020-21 NBA season.
According to the Washington Post, “Bryant fell under the basket less than two minutes into the game Saturday, after which he writhed on the floor in pain and smacked the court with one hand before walking to the locker room with a Wizards staffer supporting him on either side. The 23-year-old’s injury comes just as he was hitting his stride in Washington.”
Bryant was averaging 14.3 points and 6.1 rebounds while shooting .648 from the floor and .429 from three-point range in 10 games this season.
Wizards shooting guard Bradley Beal had himself a game on Wednesday, shooting 25 of 35 and hitting 7 of 10 three-pointers for 60 points, seven rebounds and five assists, but unfortunately it was one that ended in a loss. Via the Washington Post:
Bradley Beal’s career night was sealed at the free throw line, an anticlimactic ending that belied the thrilling performance the Washington Wizards’ star guard delivered in Philadelphia on Wednesday. Beal came achingly close to breaking Gilbert Arenas’s franchise single-game scoring record set 15 years ago, just as the Wizards nearly completed a stunning comeback against the 76ers.
Beal led his team with 60 points, tying Arenas’s tally from Dec. 17, 2006. But he could not will his team to a win.
The Wizards lost, 141-136, falling just short of a 21-point comeback mounted midway through the third quarter. Beal shot 20-for-35 from the field, 7-for-10 from three and made 13 of 15 at the free throw line, notching his fourth career 50-point game.
He had 57 points through three quarters but shot 1-for-6 in the final 12 minutes.
The Washington Wizards have exercised their their third-year option on Rui Hachimura and their fourth-year contract option on Troy Brown Jr.
Hachimura is reportedly making around $4.69 million this season and due to earn around $4.9 million next season.
Brown Jr. is reportedly earning around $3.37 million this season and make around $5.17 million next season.
Brown Jr. has appeared in 124 career games (32 starts) and has compiled career averages of 7.9 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. Last season, Brown Jr. averaged 10.4 points and 5.6 rebounds in 69 games (22 starts). He was originally selected by the Wizards with the 15th overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft.
Hachimura was named to 2019-20 NBA All-Rookie Second Team after averaging 13.5 points and 6.1 rebounds on .466 shooting from the field. Hachimura led all rookies in rebounds per game and finished fifth in scoring among rookies on the season. He also led all rookies with 18 games of at least 10+ points and seven or more rebounds. Hachimura was selected ninth overall in the 2019 NBA Draft.
Wizards forward Rui Hachimura will miss approximately three weeks with bi-lateral epidemic keratoconjunctivitis (EKC), which is an eye infection.
Hachimura was diagnosed with EKC on December 16 and missed the Wizards’ final two preseason games.
The big Wizards news heading into the new season is the recent trade that sent John Wall to the Rockets for point guard Russell Westbrook.
Westbrook and shooting guard Bradley Beal form one of the most talented backcourts in the NBA. On paper, of course. Now comes chemistry development.
The Wizards also re-signed shooter Davis Bertans, and drafted talented rookie Deni Avdija.
Washington Wizards center Thomas Bryant has been fined $45,000 for repeatedly making inappropriate contact with a game official, it was announced today by Kiki VanDeWeghe, Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations.
Bryant, who received a technical foul as part of the incident, was aggressively attempting to confront Detroit Pistons forward Blake Griffin, who had committed a Flagrant Foul 1 against Bryant on the play.
The incident occurred with 8:42 remaining in the third quarter of Washington’s 97-86 preseason loss to Detroit on Dec. 17 at Capital One Arena.
Washington Wizards rookie Deni Avdija looks very good in his NBA preseason debut yesterday. Via the Washington Times:
Even for Deni Avdija, a rookie who comes to the Washington Wizards already with professional experience in Israel, it took a moment to settle in after stepping onto the court for his first NBA preseason game Sunday night.
“In the beginning, I’m going to be honest and I’ll say, like, ‘Whoa,’” Avdija said postgame. “Like, you’re in Barclays Center and you’re playing against all those players you saw on TV.”
But Avdija wasn’t star-struck — at least not for long — in a matchup against Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and the Brooklyn Nets. In Washington’s first preseason game, the first-round draft pick soon came into his own, showing a confidence that helped buoy his team during the 119-114 loss.
The 19-year-old finished with 15 points on 6-for-6 shooting to go along with four rebounds and two assists in 24 minutes. While Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook didn’t play — meaning Wizards fans didn’t get a real hint of what the squad might look like this season — Avdija’s debut shows early promise that he could be a key contributor in his first year.